Thursday, November 15, 2012

Agenda e06: Adventure - Aberrant - Aeon Trinity

11/11/2012Agenda
Episode Six
"Kinder"

Adventure - Aberrant - Aeon Trinity

The year is 1939, the Second World War has begun and Baron Zorbo has begun his attack upon New York City. The story focuses on Scarlet, who works with Safari Jack, to try to bring down the zeppelins of the opponent that fly close enough for them to deal with. Scarlet ponders on the whereabouts of two missing companions; the German and his side-kick, Phantom Face, remains missing. The two had vanished almost two years ago and with the coming of the war, Scarlet worries if they had anything to do with the sudden increase of Nazi power.

Jack finds a massive clown float which he has raised to bring them both closer to their target.

Using her telekinetic abilities, Scarlet launches Safari Jack's zippo lighter onto the zeppelin, in hopes of causing it to burn down and crash. Jack questions the logic of having a flying vehicle filled with Hydrogen erupt into flames in front of them. But as the two map out their strategy, one of the zeppelins maneuvers to fire the death ray upon them. Scarlet has the lighter tear into the zeppelin's material, and the burning thing begins to crash their way. As the two leap from the clown and fall towards the Empire State Building. Jack uses his whip to latch onto a flag pole to swing them both to safety as they crash into a nearby window. Scarlet tells Jack they have to hurry downstairs. The downed zeppelin's death ray device was their objective. Unbeknownst to Scarlet, both the German and his side-kick, Phantom Face, were observing them from the shadows of a building.

The story flashes back to 1937, when the German and his side-kick Phantom Face are in a burning factory, rushing after the villainous Marquis FaSade. Phantom Face seemingly has trouble climbing up the ladder to the skylight as some traumatic fear paralyzes him from moving. The German fires at some crates and causes the top most one to buckle and crash into position as stepping stones. As the two clamber up the ladder, the German realized his side-kick is phobic to the fire, and ushers Phantom Face to head for the nearest window and escape. He looks up and sees Marquis FaSade almost through the skylight, using his distinct cane to launch gasoline all over the burning factory. With a timed shot, the German shoots the cane and causes it to shatter in the Marquis' very hand. As he hoists himself up the skylight to follow the Marquis, he catches the Marquis' attempt to kick him, and the two grapple into a fight that eventually leads to the villain hanging over the burning inferno. But as the Marquis' mask falls off, the German realizes he recognizes the man as Hans Weissen.

Scarlet and Safari Jack find the Death Ray on the ground. Before either of them could approach it, however, another zeppelin closes in on them from above. Expecting the worst, they instead see more of Zorbo's henchmen fall out of the compartments! The Sleepwalker peeks out from the compartment and gives them the signal that he is in control. Before any of them can reply, however, a death ray rips through the zeppelin and forces the Sleepwalker to leap for safety. Scarlet pulls the Sleepwalker close and she tells him to see if he can find a way to use the Death Ray against their foes. Safari Jack blows onto a bone whistle and summons two ancient flying dinosaurs to the city. He claims they are old friends, and leaps to ride upon one to get to the other zeppelins. Scarlet, against her better judgment, leaps as well and discovers the dinosaurs are not that difficult to control. Taking to the skies a second time, Scarlet decides to try a more direct tactic in stopping the zeppelins.

The German recalls how he first met Hans Weissen. Back before he was Inspired, the German recalled how he saw a man being beaten up by a mob. Rushing to help, Nicklaus found himself suddenly blessed with unexpected twists of luck as his Knacks slowly became manifested. But not being particularly attuned to them, he was brought down and found himself being helped by Hans. The man nursed the German back to health and noted his notable skills. "You can work for me," Hans told the German, which he considered. But later, Hans tried to recruit him to work for Germany, and this was an invitation Nicklaus had to turn down.

Scarlet directs the pterodactyl towards one of the zeppelins and realized her "control" of the beast was not quite as mastered as she had hoped. Having proven not all Southern girls know how to handle animals, she closed in on the zeppelin with the intention of leaping inside to end the fight. But as she swung by, she realized there was a familiar face in the compartment: Ingrid Albrecht.

The German recalls 1935. He and Scarlet were running down a long corridor, having been tasked to protect a certain Professor Vaisman. Hands suddenly tore through the concrete wall and grabbed hold of the German's throat and gun arm. Before Scarlet could help, the German was pulled through the wall and vanished in a cloud of debris. Following inside, Scarlet found the German pinned to the wall by a massive six foot seven blonde muscular woman whose perfect blue eyes shone against her black leather jacket, dominatrix outfit, leather boots and military hat. A Nazi swastika adorned her throat. Ingrid Albrecht regarded the German with surprising interest, talking to him in a flirtatious manner even as he used him as a bludgeoning weapon against Scarlet. Outclassed and seriously injured, Scarlet opted to stay on the ground and play dead for the nonce, while the German tried to manipulate Ingrid into spilling more information. Instead, all she admitted was that the Scientist was dead, and the German was now her primary goal. Scarlet pulled from Ingrid's thoughts the name of the mastermind of this act and found only Marquis FaSade as the answer. The German was abducted then, and Scarlet called Aeon Society to report her failure.

Although the German eventually escaped, he did not seem to have any recollection of what had happened or how he had escaped. Scarlet, however, had vowed to get back at Ingrid if he ever had the chance to do so. The Marquis spoke of someone named Adolf, and seemed amused that the German had no knowledge of a certain truth. And as the Masquis FaSade drew a knife to attack the German, even while the German was keeping him from falling to his death, the German realized self-preservation was more important and simply opted to let go. The Marquis fell into the flames to die. As the German steps out to consider the events, he finds himself bumping into Ingrid once again. This time, she does tell him about Adolf and the Gravity Chamber that was intended to help him become as strong as his "mother", but instead propelled him through time. Phantom Face admits he is the son, whom Ingrid had "created" while the German was unconscious and in her captivity, and flees after admitting, "This was not how I wished this introduction to happen!"

Cut back to 1939, the German is clambering up a fire exit to see the events unfolding. The German had vanished after the incident with the Marquis FaSade in hopes of uncovering more truth regarding the existence of his son. In the many years of searching for answers, he had even found some documents supposedly of a Gravity chamber. He eventually finds the amusing Svetlana, who agrees to keep his existence a secret and inform Scarlet of his need to meet her when the opportunity arose.

Scarlet takes the battle to Ingrid, hoping to settle old scores. As the two duke it out, Scarlet uses her powers to get into the compartment, then times her kick to slam Ingrid outside and have her fall to her doom. Intimidating the whole crew, she receives a message from a screen from a woman calling herself the Machinatrix, to bid hello to her husband. The Machinatrix claims to not be in charge, and merely to be the financier of the technology Zorbo has used. She eventually brings the zeppelin down, and with the Sleepwalker's help, knocks Ingrid unconscious. She then learns from Mercer and the others that they had succeeded, save for two missing friends: Both Primoris and Crackshot were missing. And the suspicion was, whoever took them probably was among the remaining Zeppelins that headed back. Scarlet mentioned the Sky Fortress that the Machinatrix had mentioned, and suggests it might be best not to let Benjamin Dixon known his ex-wife was involved.

Scarlet meets with the German and he asks her to arrange a meeting between him and Benjamin Dixon. In that meeting, Benjamin Dixon admits the mathematics is sound, but he doubts he can create a working version. If anyone could, he admits, it would be his ex-wife.

In the Sky Fortress, Scarlet and the others meet with Machinatrix. Discussions are made and Maxwell Mercer offers himself for the safe passage of the group. Primoris and Crackshot had already left, she claimed, and the group decides to cut their loses at that moment.

*

Many years ahead of the timeline, Erik Langley converses with the Benefactor on the importance of the Inspired in relation to the Psionics and the Aberrants. With the Quantum that Aberrants harness making Psi unreliable, the Benefactor believes the Inspired - who seemingly disrupt probabilities to their favor - may be the best weapon against the Aberrants. He admits he needs Langley to be someone who can take over for him. He claims he has an Inspired survivor Langley can study, but he needs Langley to promise him the Inspired won't be abused. When Langley admits not being certain if he can trust the Benefactor, the Benefactor offers to ease his concerns by introducing himself directly.

A knock alerts Langley to someone outside, and he opens the door to see the Prexy himself, Alex Cassel. At first, this worries Langley, as it makes him think the Benefactor and the Prexy are one. But the Prexy instead admits to visiting Langley since he needs someone he can vent out to. He even goes as far as offering Langley promotions just to be a friend at his beck and call. The constant barrage of signals, transmissions and energy pulses are defeaning for the Prexy. When he comments on a constant buzzing that he senses from Langley's room, Erik realizes that many be the jamming signal that keeps his communications with the Prexy secret! The Prexy visits two more times, and even goes as far as shutting down a few city blocks to get some quiet. He reminds Langley that he needs the Huang-Marr Conspiracy settled, and suggests he contacts Miss Laceirda-Wu who is enroute to the Philippines. She had been regenerated by the Aesculapian Order, and the Prexy fears what conditions she had been made to agree with for her life back.

When the Prexy finally leaves, the Benefactor at last comes to visit. Langley stares at the man, who looks no older than someone in his mid-forties. The Benefactor admits that listening, eavesdropping and video devices won't work to capture his visage. And that the Inspired he was talking about was himself. When the Benefactor allows Langley to see him better, Langley realizes he does recognize the man: He is the German. And somehow, he has Defied Death though all these years.